Holiday Havoc
by Genius-626
Summary: what happens after the video game? Read and you will find out...the truth!  or something
1. Chapter 1

**Holiday Havoc!**

**Author: Amelia Z.**

"Look, kids! It's snowing!"

_Dad always gets excited when the first few snowflakes fall from the sky._My brothers always hurry to the window. Mom always takes her time having one last look at the cabbage stew before joining the family. They gaze at the dark Christmas night.

I, on the other hand, have just started watching them from the start of the stairway, tapping away with slight impatience.

I almost had the perfect opportunity to leave without the gang without them noticing almost-but then Danny heard my slipper meet the first step down our windy stair case.

"Come on, Gretch, soup's on."

I turned my head ever so slightly, hissing out my response. "Mom said not for _ten_ more _minutes_, Danny," I told my twin brother. "I'll be right back, okay?"

He joked around, like all my brothers do. "No! Don't leave me!" he smiled, thinking it to be funny, but he was just giving me more attention.

"Good-bye," I said and hurriedly tip-toed down the stairs.

Once he finally understood why I was leaving, he said, "…Then I'll come with."

"Okay then."

But our dad knew we were up to something and used his bony fingers (that I sadly did not inherit) to hook them to the necks of our clothes.

"Hold your horses, kids. It's Christmas." He was a monstrous tower above us, bending down to meet our eyes (_my_ eyes, Danny's eye holes). The Pumpkin King certainly cannot get it around his skull that not everyone cares so much about Christmas. Of course, I've never tried to directly inform him of this fact, but I thought he'd get the point by now. I guess he needed more than clue, then.

"Christmas is just like every other day, Dad…except that laundry detergent falls from the sky." My brothers laughed—even mom smirked, but dad looked at me funny.

"Gretchen, that's not laundry detergent," he said, a bit perplexed, straightening up to his full height.

"I know-"

"-That's snow!"

"Thank you, Captain Obvious."

The boys laughed even harder. I almost broke my straight face, too.

"Gretchen." He looked at me sternly.

"Christmas is nonsense, dad. Absolute nonsense!"

Dad smiled and nodded. "It is, isn't it?"

"Not good nonsense. Just plain nonsense," I heard myself say aloud. "Christmas is just extended family night."

"…So you're saying you don't like the extra time with your family?" dad said.

"No—well, yes, but I didn't mean—ugh!"

Mom always knows what I mean, so she helped me out on this one. "Gretchen and Daniel can be in their room until the cabbage is cool enough."

I thanked mom in my head. She's a life-saver.

Then everything was back to normal while the rest of my siblings laughed at Calvin falling off his chair.

By this time my parents rush to my older brother to check on the back of his head where it's been cracked quite a few times. Danny and I take this with a grain of salt and hurry to our room. I'd love to slide down our staircase one day—just saying. I wish you could see it—the steps are wooden that creek and the rails are made of thin but sturdy granite-colored metal that twists and curves all the way down to my floor. Our house isn't huge, but freakishly tall, our staircases elaborate. The only room I've never been on is to my dad's work place. I've been told it's the tallest, coolest room in the whole house, and when Danny and I turn 13 we'll be old enough to go in there (don't ask me, it's a coming-of-age tradition, which I kind of enjoy).

Our room is at the very bottom of the house. Danny and I have our own little brick hallway that is just awesome. It carries echoes really well, so when I feel like eavesdropping I can very easily do so.

* * *

"You know, Sally," dad said turning away from the boys and more to the stew (I could tell because his voice grew softer), "We schedule family nights. It's not like everyone miraculously wants to do the same thing."

There was a pause, so I'm assuming that mom was taste testing the cabbage when dad was talking.

She replied, "But everyone likes family night. It's nice."

I see dad turning away from her and staring blankly at the stairs.

I heard him clearly when he said, "Not everyone." I stepped back into the shadows even though there's no chance dad can see me anyway.

"Gretchen is different. She needs time to be with herself—to think."

I presume my brothers heard my name and decided to spontaneously chime into the conversation.

"About what?" Jeremy asked. "What is wrong with her?"

Thanks.

Q tried answering the question, but just made it worse.

"Gretch is just trying to deal with being a social outcast at school. She also has to come home to us, so…"

"Q!" mom and dad said together, the boys bursting with laughter.

"What?"

"I think," Calvin said, famous for his "realistic" thinking, "our baby sister is plotting the best world take-over Halloween Town has ever known!"

Over the roaring sound of chortles and guffaws from the triplets, my eldest brother scolded all of them. "You guys are idiots. One day all your heads will pop off for laughing so much." Zeebo paused until he had everyone's attention. "Q is actually really close to the issue at hand, but I'm afraid he missed something—school starts right after Christmas, which is the reason why she's not ever in an anticipatory mood during Christmas."

"Oh right!"

"School, yeah."

"That's true."

"But," said Zeebo, "Gretchen doesn't really like Christmas to start with."

My brothers considered this. I imagined them tapping their skulls and crossing their arms and such. "I hadn't really thought about that."

"No, me neither."

"That just shows you how unobservant you are." "Yeah, okay, twerp," said Zeeb. "_Plus, _she's still holding a grudge about the forest."

Danny caught me listening in. He tapped my shoulder.

"Do you want the report or not?"

I kinda stood there. I stared blankly at the stone floor. You know, I should be allowed to dislike Christmas. There's no law saying I can't, but why do I feel so guilty? And _why shouldn't I be allowed in the forest?_

"You're not doing anything wrong," my brother told me, reading my mind. "It's seriously okay if you don't like Christmas. But we're doing something about the forest right now like you insisted so badly."

"Okay," I said.

"I get that you don't like the change of the mood."

"Exactly," I said. "But it's like I'm letting him down."

"Nonsense."

Neither of us wanted to argue, so we put it behind us for now and went into our room. Danny had already made our secret drawer revolve to reveal Tanith and Tape with their tiny projector.

Tanith is Danny's pet bat and Tape's my rat.

"What didya girls find today?" Danny asked happily.

Tanith squeaked and flew to his head with her camera anklet, shaking it in his face.

"Alright, alright, I'm on it," he chuckled.

Meanwhile, Tape jumped from the secret top drawer to my desk and scurried up to my shoulder.

Because of good genetics, Danny's fingers were perfect for activating Tanith's microscopic "camlet". He pressed the button with ease. The projection flashed in our faces. We twirled our heads around to see our plain and grainy wall turn into the very heart of the forest. It was dense. It was desolate. It was an absolutely, indescribably amazing place! The trees touched the sky they were so tall. The soil looked so smooth yet so ancient and dry. The dead grass was also dry, a brownish-yellow color. The place was as quiet as a dead man's grave—except for a little squeak from Tanith once in a while (and even _that_ was cool because she made this huge echo with one little tiny squeak).

I am (and probably never will be) allowed to go in there—especially to search for the holiday doors. I was told my feet would fall off before I'd get to them, but I feel like something is out there for me to find. Something they've been hiding from me—

-like my destiny!

So that's why Danny and I decided to see if Tanith could at least give us a visual while hunting for sticky leaves, her favorite food (they come from particularly old trees, so the forest is where she primarily goes out to eat).

Just when the setting sunlight hit a certain area of the forest, we heard all the boys hollering our names. This was not a good sign.

"Danny! Gretchen!"

"SOUP IS ON!"

"Gretchy! Daniel!"

"We're goin' down!"

In a panic, I grabbed Tape and put him back into the shelf. I started to feel the herd of Skellingtons coming closer. Danny struggled to switch the camlet off, but right when the projection disappeared, his bat took it and hurled herself into the shelf while Danny and I put it back to the way it was.

We both forgot that our door was locked, so when our brothers came to carry us back up the living room, we frantically switched the lock open before they got any brilliant ideas to destroy the door.

Like usual, I let Q and Calvin take me. Danny, though, jumped as high as he could and hung on a window pane until Jeremy decided it would be fun to climb him.

"You know, its fun until someone's limb is ripped off," Zeeb warned, watching them closely. It's happened before. One time I tried defending myself, Calvin ripped my hand clean off my arm, and I still can't sew very well yet, so I had to ask my mom to do it for me—embarrassing!

I heard Jeremy doubt his brother's wisdom, but just one moment after, we all heard the sound of a bone popping out of it socket.

**This is the end of the first chapter**, but before I leave you to wonder what happens next, I'll tell you a little about myself—like I'll do after every chapter with each character in my story, K?

As you have found out, I am Gretchen Skellington, the narrator of my own life—and not to mention the only daughter of the Pumpkin King.

I am the spitting image of my mother, which isn't a problem for me—anymore.

See, I ended up with almost the same features and (un)coordination as mom—except that my feet are really, really pigeon-toed and I'm stitched differently. My hair used to be the same, though—long and stringy, so I decided to cut most of my hair off because it was too long to handle. I knew it wouldn't grow back, but hey, I think it says "Gretchen is comin' to town!" That could totally be a song.

Catch ya later, Gretchen S.


	2. Chapter 2

_I'm the happiest when chaos strikes._ Jeremy fell after "the pop heard round the world" (I totally just made that up).

Although he had it coming, Jer fell hard on his back, but Zeeb caught Danny with much ease—as if he had seen that one coming. Zeeb started for the spiral staircase with Danny and his lifelessly dangling leg after Calvin checked Jeremy for alarming dents or cracks on his skull. Q took me by the arm and ran to inform the parents.

Q was laughing so hard he almost choked on his own spit. "That was hilarious!"

"He had it coming," I replied.

Then he said, "That sick dude, climbing him!"

"He totally had it coming," I repeated, cracking a smile.

"But that was so perfect!" he probably choked on his spit because he stopped running. "Whadda Christmas! By the way," he said with a wide Skellington grin, "Merry Christmas, Gretch."

"You too, Q."

"Say," he said, starting to walk, "We know you can't stand dad sometimes, but he's just being dad."

"Yeah, I know."

I knew he wanted to say something else, but we reached the living room.

"Is everything okay?" Mom said.

Zeeb, Danny, Cal, and Jeremy caught up behind us.

"Hey, mom."

"What happened?"

"It's not as bad as it seems!" Jeremy tried explaining.

"Shh!" Calvin cut him short.

"I'm broken," Danny said dramatically. He went limp in his brother's arms, pretending to be lifeless. Zeeb handed mom the detached left leg.

Horrified, she gave it to dad once he came back into the room. "It's Danny's."

Dad's arm was more than double the size of the leg. I always forget how tall he is when he's not in plain sight. Our father looked at all of us, one by one, neither angry nor pleasant. Maybe perplexed.

"Who did this?" he said, forcefully displaying the leg for all to gaze upon.

Everyone except the actual culprit admitted that Jeremy did it. "It was him!" we all pointed.

"Hey!" he said. "I'm sorry! I didn't know he was so fragile."

"He's only ten. Of course he's fragile," dad said. "But it doesn't hurt since he's only bone. If we had flesh and muscles, it would be very painful. Right, Daniel?" He smiled and we all sighed as if we were holding our breath that whole time, just waiting for him to be angry at us.

Danny chuckled. "It was just surprising."

Zeeb let him down on the sofa. He looked funny with a missing limb. His pant leg was empty, hanging out like a wet noodle. With his microscope, dad examined Danny's hip bone, intrigued.

"How interesting. There are barely any marks from this dislocation. It just popped clean off, didn't it, son?"

"Uh-huh. Hey!" Danny squirmed away when dad tried pushing the bone back in. "Stop! That tickles!"

The rest of us were being served stew and cheered for dad from the dining table.

"You can take him, dad!"

"Wrestle! Wrestle!"

Danny pleaded. "No! Sto-o-o-p!"

Dad laughed. "You don't want to be legless forever do you?"

"I could rough it."

That famous skeleton grin showed up on dad's face. His head tilted a bit as he looked down at his son. His arms were crossed, his bony fingers gently clasped to Danny's leg. "But that's silly. You wouldn't be able to play badminton anymore."

Danny considered this. He was the best there was on our 5th grade team (we even beat the 6th graders last year).

"So sit still!" Without hesitation, my dad dived for our brother and tickled him in the most sensitive spot known to the Skellingtons (FYI: the back of the neck). Cackling maniacally and uncontrollably, Danny did not notice his bone being jammed back into place. We all couldn't stop laughing. Q chocked on his soup (like we all knew would happen eventually), Zeeb gave him some water, and Jeremy held onto Calvin's chair in case he was laughing too hard.

PS I am very proud to say that I was the first one to finish my soup without any of it squirting out my nose.

"Cheater!" Danny cried.

"He didn't cheat!"

"Sit down, dude."

"Better luck next time, Danny boy."

"You totally lost that one," my brothers told him all at once. But when did dad ever lose to a tickling fight?

Mom scooted her seat back. "Seconds, Gretchen?"

I nodded cheerily and held my bowl out while Zeeb started to stand up. "Oh, which reminds me," he said, "Can Carrie and I go see _The Menace _tomorrow for the premiere?"

He helped her pick up the large stew pot and placed it more to my side of the table with the pepper and extra plate of herbs so I could serve myself (but I still had to stand on my chair to get to it).

"You promised you would take Danny to his tournament, remember?"

"No one else can take him? He looked at my brothers for backup, but I chimed in with our important news for the night, receiving triumphant applause and wooting from my fellow band mates. "It just so happens that our band's auditioning to play at the Battle Supreme concert tomorrow." So taking Danny to his game was out of the question for every sibling. "Tomorrow night is supposed to be the eclipse, right? They have something really cool planned during the play—but it's only for tomorrow!" The only time Zeeb acts out-of-control like the rest of us is when he talks about theatre and plays and stuff. "But what are _you_ guys doing tomorrow?" he asked our parents.

Dad folded his hands quite, well, importantly. "I'm preparing the plans for next Halloween." He smiled at all of us, our reactions alike every time he mentions out holiday. I might not be stoked about Christmas, but Halloween gets me as excited as everyone else. His eldest son looked lamely at him. "You do that every day," he said, but no one really heard him. We started coming up with what his big plan might be this year.

"It's gotta be a haunted house as big as the town!" Jeremy fantasized.

Dad sat down again. "That's a little too ordinary. Think bigger."

"Oh, oh, I got it," said Q, "What about a huge pumpkin that roles into Main Street and you drill out of it?"

"That sounds messy," dad said over laughter, cracking a smile.

Calvin popped his knuckles. "How about—"

"_Anyway_," said Zeeb, "How about you, mom? What are you doing tomorrow?" he smiled politely, folding his hands like dad (although I don't think he ever notices how many things he does exactly like dad).

"I have to teach," she said. "I've promised for so long that we'd get to hypnosis-by-aroma, and this is our last session of the season, so I have to show them tomorrow." Mom's a really, really good cook and teaches others how to use herbs correctly for delicious meals and incorrectly for tricks and such. "Maybe," she suggested, "Carrie would like to go to the game with you."

"How long is the game anyway, Danny?" Zeebo asked. "We never go over an hour—when's your play?" "Midnight—oh, duh!" he said. "Why would 5th graders ever have a game at midnight? That's not a bad idea." Zeeb lit up. "I can take you to the game _and_ take Carrie to the play!"

"You're welcome," said mom.

The rest of my brothers looked at each other, holding their laughter in like those balloons you know are about to pop. Calvin struggled to say what was on his mind for a second, but then he took a deep breath. "Are you—are you _sure_.._pfft_..you—_pfft!—_youwant to go to the game with your girlfriend?" He paused to compose himself. "It'll be light outside so you would have to make out in front of people."

"Jeremy!" mom warned.

The boys covered their mouths, forcing the stew to stay inside. Eventually, though, the three brothers took one look at each other, causing the balloons to pop.

Zeeb would have rolled his eyes if he had any. He simply explained, "That's not what couples do 24/7, you know."

"We know." The triplets said together. "It's just too funny."

"Why is having a girlfriend funny?"

They thought for a moment, looking at the other.

"I don't know. It just is," said Jeremy.

Q tapped the table. "It's so hard to put in actual words, but it's hilarious."

"Agreed. It just tickles our funny bone," added Calvin.

Zeebo easily extended his arm across the table. "I'll show you a tickled funny bone."

"No PLEASE!" Calvin said, leaning his chair back. "I know we're just really immature, I'm sorry!"

"I'm not," said Jeremy, pushing Calvin's chair forward.

"Yeah you are," I said.

"Stay calm, everyone," dad said, waving his hand to silence the boys' newly erupted laughter, "or you won't get any pie."

The boys shut up for about a second before excited pie chatter started.

"Mystery mint pie?"

"I love that one!"

"Me too."  
"Cuz it's the best pie ever!"

Danny and I looked at each other. There was never a quiet moment in this house, and our parents knew that but always attempted to do the impossible.

"Then hush," dad said, a single bony finger in front of his mouth.

"Danny," mom said, "I know you are quite resilient, but are you going to be okay running and jumping tomorrow?" "You heard about Geoffin, didn't you?" Danny said, not surprised that mom knew about the latest tennis injury in his sports club. "I'll be fine. We don't move around as much in badminton. We have birdies and sometimes if you hit their beaks it makes for a closer return than you think compared to tennis balls."

"Okay, then, Daniel. If you think it's not too much for you."

"I'll be fine," he repeated.

"I'll be there, but I'll probably be late."

"Good enough for me!" Danny beamed.

* * *

After dessert, we exchange presents, which makes for a terrible mess after all that opening and tearing of paper and stuff. In this tradition, which is kinda fun and kinda lame, you spy on your assigned sibling to find out what they want the most—that's the fun part. Being spied _on_ is totally lame because most of my brothers just stalk me until they drive me nuts and make me say something, but that's why I'm the most difficult sibling for this challenge. I don't share much and I don't want much.

The only thing I want is to find the other holidays.

You know, I don't recall being more annoyed than I usually am—who the heck gave me this present? It was a small bright blue box rapped in red ribbon, my favorite colors. So my spy wasn't Jeremy, who is color blind, unless he asked someone what color it was, but he would never willingly ask for guidance even if it was clarifying which colored wrapping paper is which.

The ribbon was tied into a bow on the top of my box, so it couldn't have been Danny. He can't even tie his shoe laces and he can't keep secrets from me at all. The edges on the box were dull, so Q didn't sharpen them (and when I thought that, Danny pricked his finger on his present). I looked behind me. I don't think Zeeb was ever my spy before.

"Come on, Little Miss," he said, "Open it." It did seem like everyone already opened their presents and were now interested in seeing what I got (even Zero woke up from napping under the Christmas tree and glided over to my lap), but my oldest brother watched me with certain intent, so I humored him and pulled on the ribbon.

A pair of shoes lay inside the box. Oh wow. I've been wearing the same dirty slippers for the past year. 365 days I have not taken off these pieces of cloth. Gosh, that's a long time. I can't wear real shoes, though. Slippers were the only type of shoes that didn't tear my feet apart—I have a pretty delicate fabric as skin. (Why not replace the fabric? you ask. It doesn't matter. Somehow, my feet get torn apart anyway). "They aren't just shoes," he told me. I took them out of the box to examine. "See, they're real sturdy and they have compartments at the bottom to put your needles and thread in so you have them at all times just in case."

My thoughtful inventor took my old slippers off and tied my new sneakers on.

"How do they feel?" he said after I walked around the room.

"These are great." They were fuzzy and squishy on the inside but hard and leathery on the outside. "I don't even remember the last time I wore actual shoes that didn't hurt!" They were even navy blue, my second favorite shade of blue. "This is my favorite present ever."

The boys cheered and Zeebo bowed low.

"Great job, Z," mom said, picking up my foot. "Your handy work is getting better every time you make something."

"How did you find out what she wanted without spying?" Cal asked. "You barely even followed her around the house."

"You guys don't know how to speak girl yet."

"Just because he's gone on a couple dates…"

"Yeah, you think you're _so_ smart."

"I've also lived longer than you. Gretchen has her own language that you all fail to recognize—even her twin."

I laughed. If any of my other family members said this, I probably would have been mad at them, but Zeeb is the exception in almost every scenario.

**Before I go, I'd like to talk a bit about Danny.**

He was born a couple minutes after me, so he's currently the youngest of the Skellington family and will probably be for the rest of his life since my parents have already made the decision to stop reproducing—which, I think, is a good move.

Daniel Skellington is like all the other boys in the respect that he's a spitting image of our father. He acts the most like mom, though—he's pleasant, polite, a little shy, and content with life overall—but can and will be a rebel if he's restless and/or impatient, which is very rare for him.

Until then, my dear readers Gretchen S.


	3. Chapter 3

_I never object to bed time._I enjoy the cold and crisp air winter brings to Halloween Town. I peer out the window in my room and see the dampened streets made of stone, so solidly gray. 

Danny started changing for bed. "Those shoes are gruesome," he said as he let his vest retire on the ground instead of on our coat rack.

"I know!" I slipped into my hammock. I was already in my nightgown. I have been in them since school ended—why get dressed when you don't really have to?

"…" Danny was suddenly quiet.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked.

Danny sat down on a foot stool. Everything he liked to wear was a lot bigger than what actually fit his spindly frame. His pajama shirt was as long as my gown because it was so big. He grabbed the remote next to his feet to turn on the projector. "Does anyone even know why we're not allowed in the forest?"

"It's _'dangerous'_."

"Who told you that?"

"Um, our parents. And Dr. F especially."

"Do you think he knows as much as dad about the other holidays?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Who knows."

"I wonder if anyone's as curious about the other holidays as we are."

We both thought about that for a moment, but then went back to wondering about the specifics we don't know about.

"…You know there must be a good reason— or a better reason—we aren't aloud," Danny said.

"Knock knock," dad gingerly opened our door. When Dad crouched down to actually get into our room, the holiday doors were projected on our ceiling, but I covered the tiny thing with both my hands and hid it behind my back. He stood up to his full height again and looked at us first, then up the wall that was now blank. "Are you ready for bed yet?" He said after a pause, "I thought I…I thought there was something there."

I yawned. I haven't felt tired all day except for just now. "Maybe it was a spider," I said.

Danny stood and looked up at the ceiling. "Um, Dad? Can we ask you a question?" and I quickly got a tack from my wall and poked the projector off and slid it into my new shoe.

A squeak came from the closet.

Dad turned his head. "Why is Tanith in the wall?"

"She likes it in there."

"How in the world did she even…" he was saying, but as he got closer, Tanith and Tape swung their compartment toward him and jumped out, revealing our secret drawer.

We thought we'd get in trouble, but since Tanith took the camera and I had the projector, all he saw was a marvelous invention we've been keeping to ourselves. Danny quickly changed the subject back to where we wanted it to be.

Dad bent down to lean on one knee so our heads were almost leveled with his.

"Um," Danny started, "We were just talking about how everyone fusses a lot if we even mention the other holidays in the forest."

"Why is it so dangerous out there? That's all we've been told—but nothing else—no detail," I complained, swinging off my hammock.

"It's frustrating."

"They don't think we can handle the truth or something."

Dad looked at us and scratched his chin, trying to figure out how to back out of this one, but then he said, "I know I can't keep you two in the dark for much longer. You would probably go and find out for yourself if I kept hiding the truth from you anyway."

We looked at each other. He knows us better than we thought. Good thing he's so innocent and trusting.

"I'll tell you, but only if you jump into your beds right now!" It was a tickle threat. Scared for my life, I leaped into my hammock and pulled the covers over my head as fast as I could. I heard Danny squeal kinda like Tanith does when he gives her a treat.

"So tell us: What is so dangerous about the forest?"

"Well…" he said in his deeper story-telling voice, "If you could recall those three henchmen of Oogie's from my tale…"

"Oh! I know," I said, "Uh, Lock…Shock…"

"And Barrel, right?"

"Bingo—they thought they would win us over by bringing the mayor over to Oogie's lair. They gave Mom and I a hand getting out of there, but they were just waiting for the right moment to stab us in the back."

I wasn't sure if I wanted to ask how they betrayed Dad, but Danny was dying to know.

"How could they do that?" he said, taken by the suspense.

"They revived Oogie. I went on a trip to clear my head and think of new ways to make a scarier Halloween when they brainwashed Dr. Finklestien and captured your mother in order to tell the town I'd left them for dead without anyone to call them out on their lies. Oogie eventually took over most of the holidays and convinced Halloween Town I was a traitor."

"They did all that?" Danny was astonished.

"When was this?" I said, outraged. I miss everything.

"It was before any of you were born."

"Oh," we both said. That is a long time. Z's seventeen, and if it was before _any _of us were born, that was a pretty long time ago.

"Wow." Danny and I looked at each other again.

"It was a catastrophe, a complete mess…but everything turned out fine in the end."

"So…you beat him?"

"Oh yes," he said, "and when I beat him, Lock, Shock, and Barrel ran off again." He held his head in his hands. "It's been so long that I'm starting to feel suspicious..." He rose, gaining his Authoritative Dad voice. "Just know that you can never trust them. Even if they say they are nice people now, it is a rotten scam. They are always up to no good."

"So you've been trying to figure this out for a while, huh?"

"Yes—actually, ever since you two were born. That was the last time I saw them," he said looking like he remembered it well.

"Huh?" Danny and I said.

"They came back to Halloween Town one night. Zero spotted them while we were in the graveyard. We weren't sure what they were doing, but their laughter reached Zero's hearing from a mile away."

"What did you do?"

"I tried getting closer, but I hadn't much time. You were sick and I only went there to grab some herbs, but before I left I tried listening to what they were saying."

"What did they say?"

"Something about finding the right one…but that's all they said. Once I reached the gates, they were walking up the path to the forest."

"I want to find out now. How come you haven't gone to investigate?" I said.

"I have."

"Then why don't you tell us about it?"

"I don't want you getting involved."

My hammock started swinging when I got up on my knees. "Why not? Who else is in on this? Have you ever even gone back to the forest because if there's no real danger I really want to go there, Dad." I heard myself starting to whine.

"There _is_ real danger! No one is going there except for me," he said. "It takes a long time to find the doors and I know how tired you get just walking to school. Besides, the less you know the better."

"That's not—"

Dad looked me square in the eye. "I do not want anyone I love to be in danger, Gretchen."

"But-"

"You don't know Oogie. He will use you against me."

"You don't even know if he's alive!"

"Gretchen."

I never heard my father sound this serious. I found myself agreeing that I wouldn't step foot in the forest even though he was being a little over-reactive. I knew I'd probably betray his trust one day, which probably made me so sad it actually matched the expression on my face. After a long pause, dad sat back down, kissed my forehead and held my head up high.

"I'm sorry we don't meet eye to eye all the time. I love you too much to see you get hurt."

"Yeah, I know."

"Don't worry too much about this. I want you to do your best at the audition tomorrow, so get some rest and I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay."

"Goodnight, Danny. Have splendid badminton nightmares," he said, tucking him in.

"I will. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

He closed the door.

Then silence.

I started to say "Oh my gosh!" in excitement and realized Danny said it too, but with a groan. I always felt like he thought he had his doubts and now with it being legitimately life-threatening...How am I going to get him to come now?

"This may take longer to plan…" I said.

"We're not even allowed to go to the _graveyard_ without somebody with us," Danny said.

"I know. We don't even know how long it'll take to go down there."

"If Dad's going down there, why doesn't he take others so if Oogie's there they could beat the snot out of him?

"Maybe that _is_ what he's doing…" I started thinking.

"What's the plan?"

"Well, my goal was to go before winter break ended, but now it looks like I'll have to face reality and plan a little more regarding the actual trip there, but that can wait." I heard a sigh of relief come from Danny. "We are now paying attention to our father's plan of action if we can get him to spill—or anyone else involved to spill, for that matter."

Danny's tone sounded edgy with a hint of skepticism. "How are we gonna do that? You know we can't just walk up to someone and say, 'hey, do you know anything about dad's plan to thwart the re-rebirth of Oogie Boogie?'"

"Exactly—that's why we have to act natural, pretend like we're not up to anything and once people think we're normal, it will be as easy as mystery mint pie to get info."

Sounds like a plan, right? This is the worst plan ever! What if no one has goods on this situation? Then I'd be making relationships with people for no good reason. **Here's a little about Zeeb**:

The first born, he's the only responsible one that keeps us all in check and who will always be there for you. He's taller than Mom and almost up there with Dad. He can read my mind too—no joke.

His workshop overalls are always on and sometimes he even forgets to take off his welding helmet from school. This guy doesn't care about what anybody thinks of him and he's great at checkers—actually, he's great at any mind game ever made :)

Catch you later Gretchen


	4. Chapter 4

_Danny poked me to wake me up._

"Are you still alive?" he said, "Cuz I wouldn't be surprised if you weren't."

"Technically I'm not," I told him.

"Am _I_? Living skeletons aren't zombies but they aren't alive—wait, but zombies are living dead—are skeletons dead?"

We smiled.

Then I remembered.

"No!" I cried, bounding out the room. Tape followed after me and made it in the coat closet before I slammed it shut. I heard Zero's barking upstairs.

"Gretchen?" Dad said. It sounded like he came from the back porch.

I said nothing. I can't believe it, though—I was so excited about nailing the audition I forgot that today is…

"The twins must be up," Mom said to the boys.

"Is she in the closet?" the triplets asked.

Danny answered after pausing to evaluate the situation replied, "Yeah."

"Boys," I heard Dad scold them for snickering uncontrollably.

"What?" Q said. "She's so adorable."

Jeremy said, "Ten going on eleven and she still hates school. I'm so proud."

Zeeb, at least, tried to help me out. "You should consider keeping her home. She likes it here a lot more than school."

Mom stopped them. "You know she needs this. If it wasn't for school, she would never get out of the house."

True. I never really thought about that, but it's true. The only time I go out is with Mom in the late afternoons to help her get plants from the garden (the graveyard's garden where the forest also starts).

More boys spoke in my favor. "Last time she told me she said she'd rather boil in the desert and be eaten by wombats," which was a lie.

"I never said that!" I yelled.

Laughter sprung from my brothers.

"She lives!"

"I knew she was smarter than that. There aren't any wombats in the desert."

"I think she's secretly a vampire!"

"That's not the point," said Jeremy. "The point is Gretchen is having another crisis. I was just trying to characterize her feelings in one swift phrase."

"And you failed."

"Epically failed."

"Boys! It's only six o'clock and you've managed to wake up the whole street," Dad said behind groaning neighbors he can see from our elevated porch.

Calvin said excitedly, disregarding the meaning of Dad's statement, "That's hyperbole, isn't it?"

"No," Q said, "He's exaggerating."

"You idiots become more stupid by the mouthful. Will you be quiet for once?"

Within this small pause I imagined Q and Calvin looking at each other before they said together, "Look who's talking! It's _stupider_!"

"What?"

"'More stupid?'"

"'Stupider'?"

I can felt Zeeb getting angrier at them. "You're going to die," he said quietly. He doesn't get loud when he's mad, but really really quiet.

"Would you boys please settle down?" I knew Dad was getting annoyed. Stuff like me hiding in the closet isn't what normal parents have to deal with—but who said we were a normal family?

"I'm not going to school!" I said after I was asked to come out. "And that's final."

Silence. Dad was sitting cross-legged right in front of the closet door that I locked.

What sucks about school is that it could get quiet. I think I've gotten so used to noise that I'm driven crazy when there isn't any. I know—I've got major issues. I start to tap and twitch and squirm in my seat. I do love how cold the rooms are though because then I can lay my head down, but that's not even considered a benefit of going to school. It just helps become a distraction and boy do I get distracted.

"Who knows?" Danny attempted to coax me out of the closet. "Maybe you'll actually be in my classroom this time. You'll never find out if you don't check."

"You know they separate twins," I said.

"Okay, but maybe you'll like your class this time. You'll never know if you don't come out and see."

"You know I'm always stuck with the "less developed" since I stink at paying attention."

"Please? Things could be different in junior high. There's gotta be kids that you want to see again."

"Fat chance."

"What about Caty? I thought you were cool with her."

"Only because the teachers told her she needed to find friends without blood to suck."

"Um, Tangent?"

"She hates me now."

"Why?"

"She said I was a zombie and had no heart! I only refused to ask her crush if he would stalk her."

I heard Dad's voice. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"This is the 5th grade and you already have to worry about stalking?"

"I know!"

"Why haven't you told us any of this before?" he asked, trying to look through the key hole.

I said nothing for a while. "Uh…" Then I made sure the door was locked.

"I know, Gretchen," he said, his grin on his face, "You could bring me to show and tell this year and I'll scare everyone that bothers you."

"Jack," Mom said.

"Thanks for the offer, but that would make my life so much worse. Everyone expects me to be just like you and to talk all about you and to just be…I don't know. The boys have it so easy—nobody bothers them, and then there's me."

"Gretchen," Mom said, "It's good to try again." She knelt down and put her hand on the door. Checking for the inevitable, she rattled the doorknob. "Things will be different this year." She kept talking as I looked through the keyhole and saw her peering down for some reason. "Jeremy, Calvin and Q are in the same building as you this year. They'll be there if you need them."

"Yeah, like they'll want to acknowledge me in public."

A click came from the knob followed by a sliver of light. Mom opened the door, a shuriken in her hand. "Nobody hates you. You're ten years old. You're just an individual and a lot of kids don't know how to deal with that yet."

"You're just ahead of the game," Dad said.

I took Mom's hand and we went right outside on our back porch. It's elevated a few feet off the ground, so we can see our whole backyard along with others.

**Calvin:**

Calvin, surprisingly, is the eldest triplet, but also the accident-prone caretaker of the group. He gets in a lot of mishaps but bounces right back from anything and everything. He's a great role model when it comes to staying true to yourself under pressure.

His outfit mimics Dad's the most. Over a plain white t-shirt, his pure black button-up dress shirt has a crazy double collar with twisted tails at the bottom. Then his pants are gray. He's got the best simple fashion style out there.


	5. Chapter 5

_The sky was a beautiful orange and the grass was brown and I can see the gray cobblestone streets below too._ We have great views of the town. This is where breakfast is usually served—unless it rains or hales.

My brothers cheer for my arrival.

"There she is!"

"Our little girl."

"Eat up for your big day."

"You're all making her nervous, idiots."

They paused to think of how to sound more positive.

"There you are, all confident and such."

"Our little socialist."

"Value your nutrition, Gretch. May I suggest some oatmeal this morning?"

"That's…a little better," said Zeeb, slightly amused by their greeting alterations. Mom and Dad smiled at each other. At least the triplets can be tamed by someone. "Do you want punch or cider?" Zee offered after scooping me up onto the last chair (that I'd have to climb to get on).

I looked at him. "What do you think?"

"Both, huh?" he shrugged, looking tired.

"Yep."

"You weird one," he smirked. "Danny?"

"I have water."  
"Ya sure?"

"Uh huh."

"What do you want before game time today?

"I dunno."

"Well, make up your mind. I'm gonna be the one making it for you—if Carrie doesn't butt in, that is. Once she saw me trying to make a tuna sandwich," he explained, "and she gave me a whole lesson on how I could make it easier for myself."

"Or how to mash potatoes the right way," said Q.

Calvin chuckled. "Remember that one time with the smores?"

"I'm glad she's coming with you," Mom said.

"Yeah, me too." Zeeb smiled.

"And it's made me so happy that you can take care of the kids when we're not around," she added.

"Baby-sitting's easy," he said, sitting down.

"Hey, we're not babies," Jeremy said. "Maybe Danny is, but not me."

While making a sandwich with his eggs and toast, Danny replied "At least I can recite the alphabet backwards."

Half standing up, Jeremy said, "Is that a challenge?"

"Maybe."

"Z-Y-X-W-Q-U-T-X-Y—darnit!"

Q and Calvin applauded their triplet. "Bravo! That was a literally awful attempt!"

"You might want to try it slower," Dad said.

Jeremy grumbled, "Can't wait to go to school and have new people to annoy."

"Shh!" Calvin nudged him.

My hands started to shake. "Oh no." It's even closer to the time when school actually starts.

"Now look what you've done!"

"Good going."

"I'm fine," I lied. "Nerves just make me sch—_school_ just makes me nervous."

"We can see that." Q stabbed his toast with his fork and pointed it at me. I took a piece off to humor him. "Go on," he said.

"I'm not hungry." I put it on my plate.

"To eat a piece of bread."

"You know what happened last year."

"So you're going to stop eating breakfast?"

"No. Today I'm not eating breakfast but I will tomorrow cuz I'm staying home." I said it so confidently I almost thought it was true, but we all looked at Mom to see.

"We'll have to see what happens today," she said. "But you're probably going to school again tomorrow."

Cruel, I know, but she didn't totally _completely_ reject the idea. I'll come up with something maybe. As I sluggishly packed my things for school, I heard out in the hallway,

"We've talked about this so many times. School is only three hours a day, four days a week. It's a great way for her to get to know other kids."

"But that is the problem. Sally," Dad said. "She doesn't want to meet anyone new. How are we going to get her to accept other people into her life?"

"All this anxiety, all her fear is all imaginary. I know if she finds the right people, she'll open up."

"But she's so stubborn. We can't force her to bond with other students."

That's right.

"Gretchen and Daniel are in the fifth grade now, Jack. Five more years or so and they choose their own paths, they find their way to contribute to Halloween. If we don't break Gretchen's habit by now, how will she ever be the best she can be?"

"You're right. She loves Halloween, but this will hold her back."

"Exactly…she's unhappy. I just want…"

"Me too."

I never thought about that before. I'm happy—inside my house. I love Halloween like nothing else—but I hate people.

"If she had new friends, if she had others outside of this house to depend on, maybe we wouldn't have to force her to see moonlight once in a while."

Danny caught me again. "You are your worst enemy, you know."

Okay, I'll try. For my parents. For Halloween. I can do this.

Zeeb walked to school with all of us even though metal shop started at ten.

It bothers me how my family sticks out like rotted fungus on a nice day. I hate crowds because someone's always pointing—especially if you're the rag doll attached to a Skellington brother's arm.

"Aw, look at that." some witchling says passing by. "Baby sister with big brother."

"I hate this," I murmured, "I wanna go back home."

"Just ignore them if it bothers you," said Zeeb. I looked around to my other siblings and found that they are pretty popular, waving at friends along the way. No one bothers them about anything, they tell me, not after they've simply ignored all outsiders and their opinions, but how can you _do_ that?

"Hey Zee, you've got something growing on your arm."

Zeeb turned his head. "Sure thing. You've got something growing in between your teeth."

"…Awesome!"

Since the guy looked kind of dense, I'm pretty sure my brother was trying to insult him, but the dude took it pretty positively (as did Zeeb with 'the thing' on his arm. Guess he was happy I was something instead of nothing at all).

I looked up at him once I was confident I wouldn't trip over anything on the ground. "You're good, Gretch. We're almost at your homeroom, but don't worry. Homeroom is only for twenty-five minutes a day before group studies for 45 minutes and then your main interest for the rest of the time."

I gasped. "What main interest? Did I have to sign up? I hate sign ups! What if I don't know what it is yet?"

"Hold on, stay calm," he knelt down and said "Keep cool. You get all year to decide. Fifth grade is the turn-around year for a lot of kids, so don't sweat it."

I sighed. "Okay then."

The two of us were the only Skellingtons in sight. I didn't even hear my brothers say goodbye, but Zeeb informed me they did.

"Meet us in the music room, okay? Room 610, got it?"

Those last words wrung in my head all through the beginning of class until we were told to introduce ourselves. The first time my name was called, I didn't hear it. The second time it went through my ear and out the other, real quiet and ghostly. The third one made me jump in my seat.

"Gretchen. Excuse me."

That was the teacher, Mrs. Rein.

"Huh?"

The class snickered. With that, I sat very still. It was a different kind of laughter from different people. My brothers always gave out hardy boyish laughs while I currently heard restrained giggles and muffled guffaws as if they were trying to keep their laughter directed at me a secret.

"Won't you tell us something about yourself?"

"That we don't already know," some kid shouted.

"No, tell us something funny about your Dad!" said another.

"She wouldn't last year," one complained behind me. "She won't say anything this year."

I was paralyzed and I didn't even have to utter one word.

"Please class. Let's all be nice to Gretchen and listen. Now dear, do you have any hobbies?" she said, trying to help me out.

"Yeah, um…"

"Scaring? Prowling?" she offered.

"No," I said.

"Then what do you like to do for fun?" For some reason, everyone was itching to know. I saw eyes on me from every corner of the room.

Another voice shot out from the general audience. "It's gotta be something your Dad does—"

"Can you shut up?" A corpse girl said behind me. I didn't know who she was, but I was eternally grateful for her plan of action. I would have smiled if I wasn't on the verge of tears.

I ducked down, avoiding all eye contact. Since the class was quiet for me, I took the opportunity to say, "I pass. I don't have a hobby."

"I knew it."

"Nice job, guys. You got her scared."

"Class, please! We are friends here."

"No. Gretchen doesn't know anyone."

"She thinks she's too good for us."

"She's famous!"

The chatter that went around the room was not at all like the chatter at home. My brothers were friendly and nice. Obnoxious at times, but loving. I missed them so much. I was crying now. A girl close to me tried to lend a hand, but I ran off before any nice thing was said on my behalf.

See how rough kids can be? I just can't deal yet. Maybe one day, but I kind of ran off. Anyhow, **let's talk about another triplet**:

Jeremy Skellington's an obnoxious troublemaker, the one you have to really nail with comebacks to get him off your back. He's not too much of a physical threat (Jer's a push over at wrestling) as much as he is a verbal threat. That's his personal hobby and defense mechanism—insults. This is what got him through the 5th grade, but that's his thing while my other brothers have their own tricks. Jeremy likes wearing his tight gray sweater zipped up to the top with a funky dress shirt collar sticking out, and blue jeans.

Hope to see you soon Gretchen


	6. Chapter 6

_I moved to another class the next week._ No one could get me out of my room for three days, which meant that because of me the band missed our audition. My brothers say we have next year but I really feel I let them down. In fact, I let everyone down. I screwed it up again. I feel terrible—but not in the good way.

Finally, Zeeb took his chain saw and broke through all the super glue I put on my door (it took two bottles and 20 minutes to do the whole door). Only dad went in—slowly—and gently took me in his arms.

"Gretchen," he said. "I can't say that I've ever felt the way you have about crowds or the outside world…But I _can_ say that I have been an outsider. There was a time when I thought no one understood what I wanted, how I needed something…something more out of life."

"How?" I said. "You're you. How is that possible?"

"Oh, it's possible alright. It's possible…"

He told me more about his lament. Even though I knew he was in a fix once, I never believed that it was true until now. He was alone once. He was isolated with one thought—that his life was empty, meaningless. (Halloween wasn't even fun for him anymore!) Then on that faithful night, when he went off to think, he found it. The thing that changed everyone's lives: the door. Dad didn't need to say what door. I knew which one and I wished his stories would literally take me there—they used to, but now I want the real thing.

After his story, Dad looked at me staring blankly into my own thoughts.

He took my tiny hand in his and turned me around on his lap. "What…what's wrong?"

Just as a tear trickled down my face, he caught it. His whole hand used to be able to go around my entire head, but now it can go from one ear to the opposite cheek.

"Look at you. You've grown so much."

"I grow every day," I said.

"Funny. So does my love for you."

**Quagin aka "Q":**

Q is the sweet one if you believe it or not, but is known to give in under peer pressure, which might actually come in handy one day. Q tries the hardest to be nice to me since he has accepted the fact that he will never understand me. He is the only triplet to learn how to sew and therefore is in charge of making the clothes for him and his brothers. He likes wearing a collared vest with tails.


End file.
